Ecole des Sciences de Gisenyi (ESG), a secondary school located in Rubavu town next to Gisenyi District Hospital, was once used as a refuge for genocide perpetrators on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

Gisenyi town, formerly known for its unique history of genocide, served as a hub for the planning and execution of the extermination of Tutsis by government officials known as 'Akazu' and high-ranking military officers like Col Anatole Nsengiyumva, who was the commander of Military Operations in Gisenyi during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi.

He was also one of the Genocide masterminds and was sentenced to jail by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 2008 for a series of genocide crimes.

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Initially established as a medical school for students to complete their internships at Gisenyi Hospital, the school's purpose drastically changed during 1994. It became a temporary home for genocide perpetrators and top officials from the Ministry of Education, along with their families, as they fled into DR Congo.

Innocent Kabanda, a genocide survivor from Rubavu District and father of two, was only 13 years old during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi but vividly remembers the events that unfolded in the town.

According to Kabanda, when the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA Inkotanyi) fought against the former Rwandan army, Force Armées Rwandaise (FAR) during the liberation war, top government officials sought accommodation at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel (then known as Hotel Meridien Izuba). Additionally, other officials, along with the Interahamwe, utilized various government buildings, including the former ESSA Gisenyi.

Kabanda explains that the school had everything needed for accommodation, including mattresses. The school also had a close association with Gisenyi Hospital, where some nurses and doctors betrayed their workmates and patients, resulting in their killing because of their ethnicity. While genocide victims were discovered within the hospital, it remains unknown whether any students or staff at ESSA Gisenyi were killed.

During the Gacaca trials, the school was a topic rarely discussed openly. Kabanda believes that given its status as a government institution, there might have been genocide survivors who sought refuge inside or who perished. Some individuals still choose to remain silent about what transpired.

"There are still people who are unwilling to share information about the locations where the genocide victims were dumped around Gisenyi," he says. "We continue to discover genocide remains in different areas during activities such as terracing or construction. This indicates that there are more undiscovered genocide remains, which is still a challenge for us, as Rwandans. However, we are hopeful that eventually people will feel free to disclose everything that happened. It's just a matter of time."

Gerard Mbarushimana, the Head of Ibuka association inRubavu District, emphasizes the need for further mobilization in the region, as it is located near the neighboring DR Congo—an area that houses genocide perpetrators. Given the easy interaction and exposure to genocide ideology, many residents frequently cross into Goma town for business or cross-border trade.

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"We still lack information about the locations where our people were dumped," says Mbarushimana, adding that Gisenyi and Ruhengeri were prominent regions where preparations for the genocide were made.

Official data indicates that the Commune Rouge memorial site is the final resting place for 5,029 genocide victims, while Bigogwe and Nyundo memorial sites house 9,241 and 1,019 victims, respectively. All these memorial sites are in the western province.